We've all been pretty terrified after hearing about Georgia woman Aimee Copeland's horrific ordeal with flesh-eating bacteria — and now another person has contracted a deadly case of the flesh-eating illness. Eighteen-year-old Kaylee McQueen of Michigan started having symptoms that her family initially believed were due to the flu. But after she developed a rash that ran from her leg to her stomach, her parents got scared and took her to the hospital.
Doctors determined that Kaylee was suffering from a flesh-eating bacteria, and also another bacteria that still remains unknown. Her mother described the rash as "a band starting from her leg and up to abdomen and her side" that was raised. She also added, "It was like two inches, like a warped rash. It was literally spreading up her body."
And the way Kaylee possibly contracted the bacteria is even scarier than the bacteria itself. (Brace yourself.)
Since the rash began on her leg, there's a chance that Kaylee caught the bacteria by doing something most women do a few times a week — shaving her legs.
Really? Shaving her legs? She was shaving her legs and may have gotten a flesh-eating bacteria from doing so?
Well isn't that just dandy. Not only do we have to be scared to death of rivers and ziplines, now we have to worry about our own showers killing us! Have you ever for one minute been in the middle of shaving and thought, "Gee, I really hope I don't die from this." Can't a girl get a pair of smooth, stubble-free legs without having to worry about contracting a flesh-eating bacteria? Isn't anything safe anymore?
(Sorry, just a little paranoid over here.)
Luckily for Kaylee, doctors were able to remove the destroyed tissue and muscle from her body and it looks like she will make a full recovery after a few months. But her story is definitely a huge wake-up call that we have to be on the lookout for this nasty bug and be extra careful — even in the comfort of our own bathrooms.
You can hear more of Kaylee's story in this video clip.
Do these flesh-eating bacteria outbreaks have you just as freaked out?
Image via meddygarnet/Flickr
